El-P Quotes

Artist development is something that I've been passionate about from my days at Uptown and Motown Records.

If it wasn't for the TLC story, many artists would not have smartened up, and you wouldn't have the Lil Waynes and people with their own labels.

To me, as A&R people and as managers, we're in the business of finding talent. It's no different than working with these engineers who just want to make good products.

I don't really see a difference in independent and major labels. To me, it's pretty much the same. There used to be a difference between indies and major labels, but I don't think there is anymore.

Doing things in my day was simple: you either signed to a big label or you signed to a very small label, and you worked with that one, and then they eventually signed you on to a big one.

I was signed by L.A. Reid on Arista Records when I was 16. He understood me and believed in me. Arista folded and I got put on RCA or whatever, then there were new people there, and every six months it changes and more new people come in.

I know it is common nowadays for artists to start labels but this is a thoroughly constructed vehicle for inspired talent. This is a market that we've been living, breathing and eating for our entire lives - one where a huge void currently exists. Favored Nations is a long-term commitment.

I remember talking with Arcade Fire after their first record, when they were getting all kinds of offers from major labels, and I don't think I gave them any advice. They survived that whole onslaught pretty well anyway without me.

We don't sign an artist to fill a void, ever. I'll never find a Taylor Swift. You can't find a new Madonna, you cannot find a Prince, a Bob Marley, a John Lennon. You won't find another Kanye West. We simply deal with people as they walk in, and we say we either love them or we don't.

It's hard to come across someone who can look past an artist who is larger and just see them for the talent they are and have them be willing to invest what's necessary to make them a star.

I'm developing artists for my new record label, my son's band, Intangible, being one of them.

I will be developing artists for my new label. The rest is in God's Hands.

I am passionate about finding undiscovered and talented artists. I want to help those artists get to the next level and provide existing artists with a new way to reach fans. I wanted to partner with the Cutting Edge Group because they share my vision and have a proven track record in innovation in the music business.

I'm sad for younger bands that don't have a home that they know they can go to, like the twenty-five labels that used to be around that they know they can hang their hat and know that they'll give 'em three, four, five albums to develop.

The industry has changed in that it is far more disposable than it used to be. When Boyzone came out, we were given a shot and the patience to record our singles and albums. Nowadays, the thought is if it is not working, then the artist will be dropped. The record companies will bail on the artists, and I find that sad.

When I was 17 years old, Frank DiLeo saw my very first music video and flew to my hometown of Las Vegas to meet with my family and me. Frank told my dad, 'I am coming out of retirement to manage one last big act: Manika.'

I completely understand why labels would be a little bit hesitant to sign somebody coming off of a television show, in their first glance.

I almost never pitch myself. Me being an independent producer, never having a manager and never being signed, I pretty much just did my own thing: go out and search for the new talent, and when the new talent blows up, it just kinda brings everyone else to me.

A development deal is an in-between record deal. It's like, a guy saying that he wants to date you but not be your boyfriend. You know, they don't wanna sign you to an actual record deal or put an album out on you. They wanna watch your progress for a year.

Every time I meet the CEO of a record label I tell them how they did it in the seventies because they want to know. I tell them, "Sign a hundred people! Throw it against the wall and see which ones stick!" And they frown and say, "Oh, we can't do that!" and they start mumbling about demographics and this and that.

Record labels today are much less patient: Artists have a bad record, and they're gone.

I've been approached by major labels every single year of my existence as an artist. Since 1996.

Eighty per cent of my time is spent on paperwork, hiring musicians, putting bands together, setting up concerts, and 20 per cent is spent on the music. That's the part that you really enjoy, but you can't afford to spend 80 per cent on your music; otherwise, it's not going to happen.

It used to be that labels would spend two or three or four albums developing a new artist before they threw in the towel and moved on, which kind of gave the artist an opportunity to grow.

I thought it was a prank. There is no way six different major labels trying to reach out to me. But it was actually happening.